Beibhinn Parsons became Ireland’s record try scorer on Sunday as Ireland beat Japan 31-24 in their second game in the WXV Global Series at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway. The 24-year-old winger from Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, got two tries on home soil to bring her test tally to 24 for Ireland, on a day where Ireland just about did enough to edge out a plucky Japanese team.
Meanwhile it was a bad weekend at club level as all four Irish provinces lost their opening games in Round One of the URC. Three months after beating the Bulls to win the 2025-26 URC final at Croke Park, Leinster began their final season under coach Leo Cullen and lost 27-26 to The Lions in South Africa. Fintan Gunne scored a first-half hat-trick for the Blues at Ellis Park Stadium, but they still lost by a point. Munster gave up a 10-point half-time lead at Thomond Park, as their season started with a disappointing 26-20 defeat to Glasgow Warriors. Ulster staged a second half fightback against Edinburgh in Belfast, but had to be content with two losing bonus-points in their 34-29 defeat at Ravenhill. Irish international Mack Hansen played his first game for Connacht in 11 months, but Stuart Lancaster’s second season in charge started with a defeat, after the province fell to a 29-15 loss at home to the Stormers in Galway.
GOLF
Last Friday the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews welcomed its new captain Claire Dowling, the first woman captain in its 272-year history, as she took part in the traditional driving-in ceremony on the first tee of the Old Course. At precisely 8am, a cannon fired and the Irish woman, born Claire Hourihane, launched her opening drive down the fairway to officially commence her term, which includes the hosting of the Open Championship in 2027. Claire began her golfing career at the Woodbrook club in Bray. She was Irish Champion five times, a Curtis Cup performer as both player and captain and a highly-respected referee. In 2015 last year the former Woodbrook legend, now an English golf rules expert and a rules official for the R&A at The Open since 2011, was one of seven women to accept an invitation to become an ordinary member of the R&A. Born in Dubin in Feb. 1958, Claire attended Dublin’s College of Catering and graduated from Trinity College in 1979 with a Bsc (Mgt) in Hotel and Catering Management. Claire and her husband Peter, a retired District Judge, live in Devon. She is also a member of the East Devon club.
HORSE RACING
Pierre Royal got his nose in front when it mattered most in the dying strides to land the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket on Saturday as Adrian McGuinness became the first Irish-based trainer to win the Cambridgeshire this century. That last Irish-based trainer to win the Cambridgeshire was Tony Martin in 1999. Connections of the Adrian McGuinness-trained four-year-old had a tense wait before the judge confirmed he had edged Crest Of Fire. McGuinness, who trains in Lusk, County Dublin, said: ‘‘I wasn’t surprised as we have been running him on soft ground and it’s been killing me. He was third in an Irish Cambridgeshire on soft ground and I said I would come here for the better ground. We only made our minds up to come here last Monday.’’
